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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-08-02 MinutesMINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE BOARD OF SIGN APPEALS A regular meeting of the Board of Sign Appeals was held on Monday, August 2, 2004 at 3:45 p.m. in Room 326 of the City Administration Building, 113 W. Mountain, Fayetteville, Arkansas. BSA 04-1138 (NWA MALL PARKING LOTS, 134) Page 2 MEMBERS PRESENT James Kunzelmann Michael Andrews Sheree Alt Michael Green Joanne Olszewski Bob Kohler Bob Nickle STAFF PRESENT Dawn Warrick Renee Thomas David Whitaker Suzanne Morgan Jeremy Pate ACTION TAKEN Tabled MEMBERS ABSENT STAFF ABSENT Board of Sign Appeal August 2, 2004 Page 2 BSA 04-1138 (NWA MALL PARKING LOTS, 134): Submitted by JEFF BISHOP for property located at NWA MALL. The property is zoned C-2, THOROUGHFARE COMMERCIAL and contains approximately 107.55 acres. The request is to allow 60 freestanding signs identifying parking areas. Mr. Andrews introduced the item. Ms. Morgan stated that the applicant proposes to display a total of 60 banner signs in each of the five parking lots — approximately twelve signs per parking lot. Each sign will be mounted to a parking lot light pole, approximately 12' from the ground, and identify the Northwest Arkansas Mall and parking lot location. The signs consist of two smaller triangular banners attached to either side of the pole. Each side contains 12 square feet, for a total display area of 24 square feet per sign. Ms. Morgan stated that there are currently five freestanding signs on this property in addition to various wall and directional signage for the Mall and tenants. The Board of Sign Appeals has previously granted variances for additional monument signs above the permitted number of on-site freestanding signs. Staff is recommending denial of the request for the following reasons: The proposed signs would be in addition to the existing signs currently located on the site, which consist of one pylon sign, four monument signs and several directional and wall signs for various tenants. Approval of 60 additional freestanding signs is not in keeping with the spirit and intent of the Sign regulation. Strict enforcement of the sign regulations would not permit the proposed freestanding signs. The amount of signage for this property has already been increased beyond current allowances through previous actions of the Board (see attached minutes). The amount of signage which has been allowed for this property is reasonable without the additional freestanding signs. There are four existing freestanding signs on-site. The enforcement of Chapter 174 prohibiting the addition of 60 signs will not cause practical difficulties or undue hardship to circumstances unique to the individual site. It is unreasonable to assume the only method of identifying each parking area is to erect signage within each parking lot. The Northwest Arkansas Mall is a large development with many tenants. It may be accessed from many streets and parking lots. While it is a unique development, the development has been granted wall and monument signs to assist customers in navigating this site. It is unreasonable to think that posting 60 24 -square foot freestanding signs within the parking lot is the only means to inform patrons in which parking lot they have parked. Ms. Alt stated that as recently as last weekend her elderly father lost his car in the mall's parking lot. Mr. Kohler stated he would like the mall to get together and state all of their needs in one package. He thought that they had done that with the previous request submitted less than a year prior to this request. Mr. Nickte stated he understood the need for directional signage but didn't think that they needed to have the advertisement for the Northwest Arkansas Mall on the banners themselves. Board of Sign Appeal August 2, 2004 Page 3 Mr. Bishop stated he would come back to the next Board of Sign Appeal meeting with a full detail of the actual proposed banners, that the banners shown in this request were used in another location and was not necessarily what the Northwest Arkansas Mall wanted. He also stated that the banners will be made of a metal material and will not be able to "flap" in the wind, and will utilize a graphic background with a symbol to identify an area. It is not an issue to take the Northwest Arkansas Mall advertisement off of the directional banners if that is what the Board would like to see. Ms. Olszewski motioned to table BSA 04-1138 to the September Board of Sign Appeals meeting. Mr. Kunzelmann seconded. Roll Call: Upon the completion of roll call the motion to table BSA 04-1138 was approved by a vote of 7-0-0.